Highway 60 Reliever Route: Washington County will be discussing the topic of the Hwy 60 Reliever Route at two meetings. Monday, Febr. 1 at the Executive Committee meeting (9 AM at the Courthouse Gov Center Room #2024) and Tuesday, Feb. 2 at the Transportation Committee Meeting (8 AM at the Vehicle Maintenance & Storage Facility – Room 111). Both are said to be for informational purposes only and will not require any action. A group from Hartford will be at the Monday meeting and we are asking the County Administrator if he would suggest a group being at Tuesday’s meeting as well.
Water Main Breaks: The water department responded to two water main breaks on Loos Street on January 16th and on S. Main St on January 21st. The S. Main St break is one of many breaks that have occurred in this area and this section of Main is on our 5-year plan to be completely replaced.
Emergency Preparedness Plan: The Mayor called a meeting between the chiefs and myself to update the Emergency Government Plan. Chief Stephans is working on several updates and we will have the updated plan coming forward to council in the next 60 days.
Hwy 83/60 WE Energies Gas Line Update: (As of 1/25/16) The new gas main line installation is complete. The contractor is currently working on installing all of the necessary fittings at the tie-in locations. Once these fittings are installed, the contractor will air test the new gas main. They are hoping to air test late in the day Tuesday or first thing Wednesday. After a successful air test, the main will be filled with gas and WE Energies can begin tapping the gas lateral connections. They are shooting for Thursday and Friday for this work. After the new lateral connections are made, they will switch the existing services to the new gas main. The contractor will be contacting the affected properties and businesses to schedule a time for this work.
Next week the contractor will then work on abandoning the old gas main, cleaning up the worksite, and closing all of the open holes in the road and sidewalk areas.
Library gets $3,000 from Friends for AV Update: The Friends of the Library donated $3,000 to the library to go toward AV updates to their meeting room. The room has seen a 75% increase in use and the only drawback was the lack of AV equipment to use. Nearly half of the usage of this room is rental to private businesses for off-sight meetings.
New Plow Truck in service: The new plow truck was put into service this past week. Monday’s snowfall was its first official day in the snow. It was on display at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Salt at a surplus: Due to the mild winter, we are anticipating a plethora of road salt left over. Every year, we purchase salt based on a five-year average and need to take delivery even when we don’t need it. Darryl is working on options to store salt for the following year which should save us next year. Where to go with the salt is the challenge.